Learn how to view analytics for your Kotobee ebook or library using Google Analytics 4 (GA4). 

Google Analytics 4

Kotobee Author allows you to track user interaction inside your ebooks using Google Analytics 4. GA4 is Google’s latest analytics platform, designed to track websites and apps using an event-based model.

When you export or host your ebook through Kotobee Author, all necessary event tracking is already built in. You only need to provide your GA4 Measurement ID inside Kotobee Author.

Important:
Google Analytics will only begin recording ebook events after you add your GA4 Measurement ID and update your ebook or library. Any activity that happened before adding the ID will not appear in GA4. 

Once connected, your ebook will automatically send events to GA4 whenever users interact with it.

Events Tracked by Kotobee

The following events can be reported from your ebook web app to Google Analytics.

  • The date/time that a certain title was opened.
  • The name of the chapter that was navigated to.
  • Any video that has been clicked to play.
  • Any audio component that has been clicked to play.
  • Any interactive image that has been clicked to animate.
  • Any image that has been clicked to open in a media panel.
  • Any book widget that has been opened.
  • Any self-assessment question component that was solved, along with the user’s answer report.

Viewing Ebook Events in GA4

When you sign in to Google Analytics 4, your property will show the Reports section by default. GA4 is designed around events, so all ebook interactions appear under Engagement. This report is useful for viewing overall ebook events from earlier on the same day and past dates. If you're interested in monitoring immediate behavior from users, go to the Realtime Overview report at the top of the panel.

Kotobee sends additional details, called event parameters, with each event. They mainly represent the different types of interactions and events happening inside the ebook.
For example:

  • Event Category: The object that was interacted with. It could either be the name of the book (book opened event), or a chapter name (chapter navigation event), or the name of the element (video, audio, widget, questions, or image) in case it was interacted with.
  • Event Name: The name of the action that occurred. The different possibilities are: opened, navigated, viewed image, played, solved, and clicked.
  • Event Label: The name of the book of which the event occurred. It is very useful if you are tracking a library rather than an ebook. The Event Label is used to categorize the events.

Registering Parameters (Optional)

If you want parameters like chapter names to appear in tables or custom reports, register them as Custom Dimensions:

  1. Go to Admin → Custom definitions → Create custom dimension.
  2. Enter a readable name (e.g., “Category”).
  3. Set Scope: Event.
  4. Enter the exact parameter name (e.g., category).
  5. Save.

GA4 will begin displaying these values in your reports going forward.

To View the Ebook Activity:

Go to Reports → Engagement → Events.

 

Find the events triggered by your ebook, such as opened, navigated, played, clicked, or solved. Note that you can find a specific event by searching for it in the search bar above the events report.


Note:
When viewing GA4 reports for the first time, you may see empty tables. This is normal. GA4 may take several hours to process and display new ebook events in the Events and Engagement reports. The Realtime view, however, shows activity immediately.

Viewing Real-Time Ebook Activity

If you want to monitor what users are doing inside your ebook in the last 30  minutes:

Go to Reports → Realtime Overview.

This page displays:

  • How many users have opened your ebook in the last 30 minutes
  • Which events have occured in that time
  • Recent chapter navigations, plays, clicks, and assessments solved

Using Explorations for Detailed Ebook Analytics (Optional)

For deeper analysis, GA4 provides Explorations, allowing you to build custom reports such as:

  • Most-read chapters
  • Most-interacted-with media
  • User behavior flow inside the ebook
  • Solved question patterns

To create a chapter-level report:

  1. Go to Explore → Blank exploration.
  2. Add Event name and Category (your chapter name parameter) as dimensions.
  3. Add Event count as a metric.
  4. Drag Event name and Category into the Rows section.
  5. Add a filter to include only the events you want (e.g., opened, navigated).